Slippery When Wet
by HarvestBeauty
Summary: Terri falls for Larry, literally!


Terri stepped out of the hospital doors. The coolness in the air was a bit of a shock to her and caused her to gasp. She shivered inside of her light, purple windbreaker as her eyes swept over the people milling about, searching for a specific face in particular.

The temperature had dipped into the mid 40's that grey and windy evening and a light yet steady drizzle had made the cement shiny and slick. It was almost cold enough that Terri could see her breath, but not quite. Winters in California were nothing like on the East Coast...they were much more mild. It hardly ever snowed, it just rained. It wasn't the most Christmasy thing in the world, but Terri knew she'd get to look forward to the bright, sparkling powder when she, along with Jack, Janet and Larry, took that holiday trip up into the mountains for Christmas and the New Year in a few weeks. She could not wait. It had been so long since she'd experienced a white Christmas instead of a wet one.

Her face lit up as her eyes landed on the person she was looking for. Larry had been leaning against a wall with his hands shoved into the pockets of his jacket in order to keep warm. Larry and Terri had developed somewhat of a ritual these days. He almost always met her outside of the hospital after work, provided he was able to, in order to give her a ride home. Sometimes they'd go out to dinner before heading home. It started because of all of the weirdos hanging around the hospital, harassing the nurses and sometimes the patients in the parking lot. Terri complained to Janet about being accosted by one of them, although she was not hurt and she handled it like a champ. Larry insisted on meeting her from then on after hearing about it from Janet, even though Terri said she could take care of herself. Larry didn't want to take any chances. But truthfully, she'd grown to look forward to their evening meet-ups...she actually felt sorry for those who had to go home all by themselves or who still had to take the bus. With Larry waiting there for her, she felt like she was already home even before she would actually arrive at the apartment. When he had noticed her, he pushed himself off of the wall and strolled over to her casually.

"Lawrence." Terri smiled at him, her blue eyes dancing playfully.

"Theresa." Larry caught on quickly, grinning back at her. He affected a British accent at the formalness of it all.

Terri gasped at his use of her full first name.

"How did you know my name?" She wanted to know. "I don't think I've told Jack or Janet. I haven't gone by Theresa in a few years."

"Isn't that what Terri is short for...Theresa? Surely, it can't be Terrance like Jack thinks it is...that's a guy's name." Larry laughed. "Anyway, it's a very beautiful name. How come you don't go by it more often?"

The two linked arms and headed for the stairs.

"Theresa makes me sound snobby...as if I think of myself as some sort of saint, especially since I'm a nurse." Terri answered him, shrugging. "I find that the name Terri puts people more at ease. Isn't that why you go by Larry instead of Lawrence? Because your full first name makes you sound like royalty or something?"

Larry laughed once again as he pictured himself in royal garb, complete with a crown and everything. He made a kingly, sweeping gesture to the stairs that descended in front of them, allowing Terri to step down ahead of him in order to go first. He followed close behind her.

"That reminds me...I thought you were such a snob when I first met you. Beautiful, of course, but a snob." Larry reminisced.

"Hey, watch it!" Terri cast a playfully annoyed glance at him over her shoulder.

"I could not have been more wrong!" Larry raised his hands as if surrendering.

"Well, I thought you were a pig when we first met." The smile was evident in Terri's tone. "And I was..._mostly _wrong."

"No, you weren't." Larry joked, chuckling quietly.

Despite Terri's decided lack of true snobbery, her pride was very much wounded when her feet went out from under her while walking down the stairs. Terri prided herself on being strong, smart, poised, graceful and, yes, attractive. She was normally not one to clumsily slip in the rain like a cartoon character, and yet, here she was...her arms flailing helplessly as she started to fall backwards. She couldn't believe it...it wasn't even ice. Her eyes squeezed shut and her heart leapt in her throat as she braced herself for what was going to be a very painful experience. Larry saw what was happening and jumped forward, his arms encircling her in a tight and protective embrace. He pulled her close to his chest as they went down together. The impact was rather anticlimactic for Terri because it was actually soft...she really just fell into Larry. It was much less jarring than falling onto cement steps, that's for sure. When she heard Larry gasp in pain at the impact, her eyes snapped open in realization. She might have avoided the cement steps, but Larry hadn't. She turned around to face him, still down on her knees. Neither one of them had tried to stand up yet.

"Larry...thank you so much! Are you okay?" Terri breathed.

Looking a bit dazed, Larry opened his mouth to answer her. When he did so, a stream of bright, red blood dribbled down his chin.

Terri's eyes widened as her mind whirled with possibilities and her heart stopped. Why on earth would Larry be bleeding from the mouth after their fall? Perhaps he had slammed his head into the cement stairs and had some internal injuries? When Larry spat up more blood, it shocked her into action.

"Thank goodness we're still on hospital grounds. We've got to get you inside right away, Larry!" Terri grasped at his coat, ready to pull him up to his feet. Her blue eyes were wide with fright and she was trying really hard not to panic at the moment. Larry surprised her by shaking his head and putting his hands in the time out position. She paused what she was doing and just stared at him curiously.

"I'm okay...I just bit my tongue when we fell. I think I scraped my back a little bit, too." Larry sounded funny, as if he was talking with a mouthful of mashed potatoes. He put a hand to his chin and grimaced when he pulled it away and saw the blood on his fingers.

"Gross!" He whined.

"Oh, thank God!" Terri sighed in relief. She reached into her purse and handed him a miniature, 8 ounce water bottle (a girl had to stay hydrated, you know). Larry took it and sipped from it, wincing a little bit in pain as he rinsed and spat out some more blood. The bleeding was already beginning to slow down, which was a very good sign. She handed him a tissue in order to clean up the blood that was still on his chin before it dried.

"Come on..." Terri said. "Let's get you home and then I can take a look at your back."

Normally a statement like that would make Larry grin like mad as he pictured Terri taking his shirt off, but this time, it didn't even seem to register with him. He was in a good amount of pain and the blood was really grossing him out. Terri's brow crinkled in concern.

She offered Larry her hands in order to help him up. Larry opted instead to grasp onto the banister and pull himself up to his feet. He reached down and pulled Terri up into a standing position as well. He then wrapped an arm around her waist protectively as they descended the rest of the stairs and walked across the parking lot. He didn't let go of her until she was safely in the passenger seat of his car. He was not going to let her fall again. He walked around and got into the driver's seat, slamming the car door behind him. He leaned his head back for a moment of rest before taking another swig from the water bottle, swishing the water around in his mouth in order to rinse.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Terri asked him, concerned.

Larry spat the remaining blood out of the car window. He then wiped at his mouth some more with the tissue she had given him.

"I'm okay, just hurts a little bit." Larry replied, fixing her with a sweet, yet red stained smile. "I'm sure it looks pretty cute, huh?"

"It will hurt until the swelling goes down, but it will go back to normal eventually." Terri already had a game plan for when they got home, including having him rinse with cold water from the fridge in order to speed up the healing process.

"I hope so! I need this tongue like you don't even know!" Larry sighed.

Terri paused, her mouth twitching with effort as she tried hard not to smile. Larry caught the look on her face and rolled his eyes.

"I mean for work! How am I supposed to sell used cars if I can't even talk to people without grossing them out?" Larry complained.

"Well, thank God it's Friday. You've got the whole weekend to heal." Terri smiled at him brightly.

"Ow..." Larry hissed quietly. Now that the adrenaline wore off, the pain was really starting to kick in.

Terri reached toward him and gently squeezed his hand.

"Thanks for catching me back there." She thanked him sincerely.

"Oh, no problem. I couldn't just let you fall." Larry squeezed her hand back, smiling at her wearily.

"Who would've thought that you'd be my knight in shining armor?" Terri joked.

"I'd rather be your knight in gold chains." Larry quipped. Unfortunately, due to the swelling, his speaking was rather muffled and becoming hard to understand.

"What was that?" Terri asked him sweetly.

"I said I'd rather be your knight in...ah, forget it." Larry gave up when he heard the sound of his own garbling. He instead took a deep breath and put all of his energy into trying to sound as clearly as possible for what he was about to say next.

"Anytime, Terri." He smiled at her affectionately.

As Larry started up the car and pulled out of the hospital parking lot, he couldn't help but think about how good he was feeling. Physically, he felt awful...his back was killing him and his tongue was throbbing with pain, but all of the physical pain in the world could not ruin this high for him. He was feeling good, and it wasn't just because Terri was going to have to take his shirt off in order to fix up his back for him (although that helped), but because he had managed to save her from taking a very painful tumble herself. He vowed from then on to protect her at all costs and from everything he could. He wanted to live up to that knight in shining armor title she had given him.

THE END

_A/N: Can anyone help me figure out what would be a good ship name for these two when I eventually get them together? I can't for the life of me figure it out...their names are so similar sounding, that I can't combine them! Either Lerri or Tarry just sounds like you're saying one of their first names, and I've tried combining their last names and came up with all sorts of weird sounding titles. Any ideas? To be honest, I love the fact that they have matching first names...I think it's completely adorable._


End file.
